Press Release
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are seeking information regarding potential and actual conflicts of interest within the Department of Defense (DOD) during its JEDI cloud procurement. Had JEDI not been terminated, it would have been the one of the largest federal contracts in history.
Prior to joining DOD in 2017 as a top aide, Sally Donnelly was a paid consultant for Amazon – later an unsuccessful bidder for the JEDI contract – as well as Amazon business partner, C5 Capital. Grassley and Mace recently requested records and a transcribed interview from Donnelly and Andre Pienaar, C5's CEO and Founder.
“It is crucial to our national security we have transparency and fairness in government systems. Anyone seeking an appointed position in the federal government should need to properly disclose their finances, especially if they have a position where they can influence contracting decisions. Transparency in these processes will give the American people peace of mind their government isn't operating on backroom deals to the detriment of our nation's readiness and security,” Mace said.
“When information involving significant taxpayer dollars doesn't pass the smell test, it's on Congress to do its job and look into it. The House and Senate have oversight authorities to make sure federal agencies are held accountable and to shed sunlight where we need it. The DOD's JEDI procurement needs some sunlight. We'll continue pushing until we get straightforward answers for the taxpayer,” Grassley said of the letters.
Days before joining DOD in January 2017, Donnelly sold her ownership shares in her consulting firm, where she did paid consulting work for Amazon and C5. The buyer was VMAP Investor LLC, which Amazon-partner C5 Capital formed one day ahead of the sale. C5 Capital was founded and run by Pienaar.
In her financial disclosures to DOD after entering government service, Donnelly disclosed only the first payment she received for the sale of her firm, and did not disclose either the true purchaser or the over $1 million in remaining payments from VMAP/C5 that she would continue to receive while at DOD. Two months into her tenure at DOD, she received a second payment of $390,000 toward the remaining balance. Even though her initial financial disclosure to DOD was filed two months after that subsequent payment, she did not disclose it, and would not disclose any of the ongoing payments until she left DOD service. This information would have been relevant to DOD ethics officials with respect to walling off Donnelly from potential and actual conflicts of interest while Amazon pursued the JEDI contract.
The DOD Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a review of alleged misconduct in the JEDI process. When questioned by the OIG, Donnelly neglected to label VMAP/C5 as the purchaser of her firm. In the OIG's interview of Donnelly, OIG requested that she provide a copy of the sales agreement for her firm; however, she supplied it to OIG with the buyer's identity redacted, the most critical piece of information in an ethics review.
Despite missing this key information, the OIG wrote in its final report that it “found no evidence that [Ms. Donnelly] had an ongoing or undisclosed financial relationship with C5 or Amazon and its affiliates that would have required her to recuse from any of her official duties in the DOD.”
The JEDI cloud computing contract was publicly awarded in 2019 to Microsoft over Amazon and other bidders, but later was canceled entirely.
